Hood for automobiles and other vehicles



Jan. 1, 1929.

.F. J. LEATHER HOOD FOR AUTOMOBILES AND OTHER VEHICLES Filed Nov. 8,1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F. J. LEATHER 2 Sheets-Sheet.

HOOD FOR AUTOMOBILES AND OTHER VEHICLES Flled Nov 8 1926 Fatented Jan.1, 1929.

UITED s'rATs FELIX JOHN LEATHER, LONDON, ENGLAND. 7

H001) FOR AUTOMOBILES AND OTHER VEHICLES.

Application filed November 8, 1926, Serial No. 147,125, and in GreatBritain November 16, 1925.

This invention relates to hoods for automobile and other vehicles of thekind in which cant rails are secured to thebody of the vehicle,extending from the rear to the front thereof, and a plurality of hoodsticks, crossbars or bows forming a support for a flexible coveringmaterial are provided, each of said hood sticks, cross-bars or bowsbeing arranged in engagement with the cant rails whereby they aresupported when the hood is raised, and endless flexible members,pretterably actuated from the drivers seat, are employed for raising andlowering the hood.

On aesthetic: grounds it is .desirable to arrange the cant railsdirectly above the sides of the body, and on similar grounds it isdesirable that the hood when lowered shall be housed within the body or,at least, when lowered shall not overhang the rear panel.

Moreover, it is most desirable or even essential that the hood should besubstantially free from rattle when erected.

These and other considerations give rise to a number of difficulties inthe design of a hood of the character in question.

Qne of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improvedconnection between the cant rails and the hood sticks located betweenthe hood stick forming a support for the flexible material adjacent tothe rear angle of the hoodand the peak or forward end thereof whichshall be oi value more particularly in constructions where the portionsof the cant rails supporting the hood sticks in plan conform with thesweep of the body.

According to the invention the hood sticks forming the intermediatesupports for the flexible material of the hood are on either sideconnected to a plurality of shoes engaging the cant rail by means oflinks which are pivotally connected with the related hood stick aboutcommon centre and the connections between the links and the hood sticksand the links and the shoes are secured by the employment ofball-and-socket joints.

Thus, normally, each of said hood sticks.

will be connected on either side to two shoes, which engage the cantrail, by means of a pair of links each formed with a ball engaging acorresponding socket in a shoe and each provided with a hemisphericalbearing member at the opposite end pivotally connected with the adjacentend of the other member of the pair of links and engaged in a memberfurnished with a spherical socket on the hood stick.

Conveniently, the spherical sockets are each provided with aspherical-surfaced pad and resilient means adapted to press the padagainst the spherical member engaged within the socket.

The pivotal connection between the members of a pair of links isconveniently secured, by providing in the adjacentplane faces of theirhemispherical ends hemispherical sockets in which a ball is engaged.

Where the distance between the cant rails is less at the forward portionof the body than at the rear, the shoes are preferably arrangedfrietionally to engage the links when the hood stick with which they areassociated is drawn forward into its appropriate position and thus toprevent relative motion between the linkand the shoe.

Thus, for instance, the shoes may each comprise a portion in the form,for instance, of a lug which when the linksengaged therewitharedisplaced as the result of the shoes being drawnforward on to theportion of cant rails above the tapered part of the body the links arecaused to bear against such portions of the shoes with which they areengaged sutliciently firmly to prevent relative motion between the linksand their re lated shoes.

Conveniently the shoes are arranged to engage iianges on the cant railand may each comprise two halves which are secured together with the aidof location pins and a stud or the like, a member being secured to theinner half, said member comprising a recess in which a spring and aspherical surface pad adapted to form a portion of the bearing for theball end of the supporting link are secured in any convenient way, asfor instance by the provision of a screwthreaded projection upon thesaid half of the shoe passing through a hole in the member and engagedby a nut.

Alternatively, in accordance with the invention, the shoes may beprovided with flanged V rollers engaging a corresponding flanged portionof the cant rail. 7

The rollers may be arranged so as to pivot about, for instance, verticalor horizontal axes according to the form of the cant rail.

Preferably the cant rails each comprise a channel portion adapted tohouse the flexible member whereby the hood is raised and lowered, onewall of the channel being provided with flanges adapted to be engaged bythe rollers.

Conveniently also cant rails on their outer sides are provided withchannels in which the edges hood material may. be engaged or housed,these channels being if necessary provided with weep. holes or othermeans enabling water collecting on the hood and entering the channel tobe discharged therefrom. i

Each of the shoes may also be provided with means adapted to engage abutton or an eyelet adapted to engage a lace or like fastening means forthe flexible hood material, the edge of which is preferably welted orpiped, in which case a depression or channclmay. be. provided in thecant rail within which a welt'ed or piped edge may be housed.

T o assist further in preventing chatter or rattle of. the elements ofthe hood construc tion each of the shoes may be provided with aninclined. surface adapted to co-operate with'a correspondingly inclinedsurface on the. cant rail.

Thus, for instance, in a channel in the cant rail locatedbelow the upperand outer flange thereof wedge members maybe provided, the location ofsuch wedge members and their inclination being. such as to cause theappropriate shoe to be seized or jammed when it has been drawn forward.

The bottom face of each shoe may be inclined correspondingly with theinclination of. the wedge member with which it is to cooperate and aswill be understood the heights of the several wedge members or thedepths of: the portions of=the several shoes below the flange on thecant rail will vary in order. to permit the hood sticks supporting theforward portion of the hood to pass over the wedge members which are.designed to cooperate with the hood sticks situated toward the rearthereof.

rrlternatively, the cant rail may be provided with wedge members orportions forming inclined. planes adapted to be engaged by set-screws inthe shoes which when the hood is raised. will be immediately above thesaid inclined portions. By the use of set-screws for this purpose,adapted tocooperate with such inclined planes, adjustments may be madein orderthat a suffi ciently tight engagement between theshoes and thecant rails may be secured.

For engaging the two hemispherical ends of each pair of links a fittingcomprising two members each provided with spherical bearing surfaces,adapted to be connected to the hood. stick. and secured together by, forinstance, a screw, is provided. Preferably the spherical surface in one.of. the members of this. fitting is formed by arranging within a recesstherein a spherical-surface pad.

A. furtherffeature of the invention com.-

prises the employment of hood sticks the length or span of which may beadjusted to compensate for wear or distortion.

Certain constructions in accordance with the invention are illustratedby way of eX- ample in the accompanying drawings, in which Figures 1 to9. show various methods of connecting the intermediate supports for theflexible material of the hood with the shoes and/or their related hoodsticks,

Figure 1 illustrating one method of securing the pivotal connectionsbetween the links and their related hoodsticks and shoes,

Figure 2 being a fragmentary view showing a detail of this construction,

Figure 3 being a sectional elevation of an alternativeconstruction ofshoe,

Figure 4- being a corresponding plan view, and i i Figure 5 a section onthe line 5-5 of Figure 3, the arms and cant rail being omitted;

Figure 6 is a view illustrating a further alternative construction ofshoe engaging. a cant rail of a form differing from those indicated inthe precedingiigures, while Figure 7 is a view illustrating a furtherconstruction of shoe engaging. a cant rail similar in form to the cantrail illustrated in Figure 1.

Figures 8 and 9 illustrate another alternative construction of: shoe.

Figure. 10- illustrates a construction of hood stick thelength or spanof which is capable of adjustment.

Figure 11 is a general exploded view of a hood construction as appliedto a vehicle.

The following description refers generally to Figures 1 to. 7. i

in the construction,illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 11 the hood stickproper 1 supporting the fabric 2 is provided with a fitting comprisingtwo halves 3 and a. connected to.-v

gcther by, a screw and providing a spherical socket Gin which the endsof a pair of links 7 are engaged. The ends of the said links are eachprovided with hemispherical portions 8, and S? and in the plane facesofthese portions recesses are formed engaging a hardened steel ball Thesocket engaging the links is furnished with a pad 10 lonted in therecess 11 in. which a spring 12 is arranged in. orderto provide, a,resilient bearing for the ends of the links.

The other ends of the links, only one, of which is shown in. Figure 1,are formed sub.- stantially as spheres 13 and each of such spheres isengaged in a. recess 1 iin. the shoe which is built up from three main,elements 15, 16 and 17. The element 15 is provided with ascrew-threaded. pin 18 by Ineansof:

which. and the nut 19.the fabric isv secured to the shoe. In addition,tins element of the. shoe is provided with. an inclined under sur face,20 adapted when, the associated heed stick is in its correct position tobear against the wedge block 21 on the cant rail 22 in which a channel23 is provided for the accommodation of the flexible member employed forraising and lowering the hood. The element 16 is engaged with theelement 15 by means of a screw, not shown, and with the aid of locatingpins of which one is indicated by the reference 16. To this element isconnected the element 17 by means of the pin 24 with the screwthreadedend of which the nut 24- is engaged. These two ele ments provide thesocket for the spherical end of the associated link and to provide asufficiently close but flexible engagement therewith aspherical-surfaced pad 25 is associated with the spring 26 which islocated in the recess 27. hen the hood is in position the link is soarranged that it bearsfirmly on the lip 28 on the element 16.

Referring to Figures 3 to 5, 29 are flanged rollers mounted on pins 30in the shoe 31, the channel between the flanges on the rollers engagingthe flange 32 on the cunt rail which is provided also with a flange 33adapted partly to enclose the beaded edge of the covering material, Bymeans of the screw 34- the element 85, in which is a recessaccommodating a spherical-surfaced pad 36 and the spring 37, is securedto the remaining portion of the shoe, thus forming socket forthespherical-surfaced end 38 of the link 39.

In addition, an eyelet 40 is provided on the shoe for the engagement ofa cord or lace secured to the fabric or other covering material of thehood, while a grub screw 11 is provided in the shoe, the end of thescrew being arranged to bear upon a block Qhaving a sloping face whichwill operate to cause the shoe to be held firmly in position when thehood is erected.

In the construction illustrated in Figure 6 a grub screw 43 in the cantrail 41% performs the like function, the face of the element 50 withwhich it co-ogeratcs being formed on the element 51 of the shoe which isalso provided with an eyelet 52 adapted to engage a lace connected withthe hood ma terial. The shoe in this construction, as will be seen, isprovided with flanged rollers which are arranged with their axes in asubstantially horizontal plane.

In the construction illustrated in Figure 7 the cant rail 22 isidentical in form with the cant rail illustrated in Figure 1. The shoecomprises two main portions 5% and 55, the two portions being connectedby the screw 56. The shoe in this construction is provided with aplurality of grooved rollers 57 pivoted about vertical axes and with alug 58 which forms an abutment adapted to bear upon the inclined facesof the wedge member 59.

In the construction illustrated in Figures abutment 66 in drawingforward or erecting the hood will be engaged against a wedge 'lock onthe cant rail.

Referring to Figure 10, which illustrates a hood stick, the length orspan of which may be varied, 119 and 119 indicate the end portions ofthe hood stick, each of whichis provided with an internallyscrewthreaded member 120, while 121 is a turnbuckle connecting theseportions together and enabling the span of the hood stick to beincreased or diminished to compensate for wear or distortion or relativedisplacement of the cant rails.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is 1. A hood construction for automobile andother vehicles comprising cant rails secured to the body of the vehicle,shoe members slidable along the cant rails, a plurality of hood sticksthe ends of each of which are attached to a plurality of shoe members bymeans of links which are connected to said shoe members and said hoodsticks by ball and socket joints.

2. A hood construction comprising cant rails along which a plurality ofshoe members are slidable, a plurality of hood sticks supported by theshoe members and attached thereto by links having ends of spherical formwhich fit to sockets on the shoe members and the hood sticks and areheld there in by a spherical-surfaced pad.

3. A hood construction comprising cant rails, a plurality of shoemembers slidable therealong, a plurality of hood sticks each end of eachof which is supported on a pair of links the lower ends of which arecarried respectively by a pair of said shoes, the upper ends of thelinks having hemispherical bearing portions, engaging in a sphericalsocket associated with the related hood stick, the lower ends havingspherical bearing members engaging in sockets on the related shoemember.

4. A hood construction comprising cant rails, a plurality of shoemembers slidable therealong and supporting a plurality of hood sticks bymeans of links, said links being secured to the shoe members by ball andsocket joints, a fitting at each end of the hood sticks comprising twoportions forming a spherical socket, a pair of links each having ahemispherical end. being lowith an inclined portion adapted to coal-ctwith Wedge member on the cant rails.

(5. A hood construction according to claim 4 in which the shoe niemberscomprise two portions held together by a screw and torming a sphericalsocket, the lower ends of said links having; ball portions located insaid sockets and held therein by a sphericalsurfaced pad, and a springassociated with said pad.

7; A hood construction for a vehicle comprising a cant rail on each sidethereof, a plurality of shoes slidably mounted on each cant rail, linkssupported by said shoes and connected thereto by ball and socket joints,hood sticks supported by said links pairs of which are connected to theends of said hood sticks by ball and socket joint-s, inclined portionson said shoes adapted to coact with edge portions on said cant rails.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

FELIX JOHN LEATHER.

